Rosmersholm
From the beginning of June until the end of September 1885 Ibsen was in Norway for the first time for 11 years. He spent more than half of the time in Molde. His first plans for Rosmersholm came into being before his stay in Norway, during the winter of 1884/85. However his experiences and impressions stemming from seeing his mother-country again, were of great importance in shaping the play.
In a letter to Carl Snoilsky, the Swedish poet with whom Ibsen had spent a few days in Molde, posted from Munich and dated February 14th 1886, Ibsen wrote:
"I am also fully occupied with a new play, which I have been thinking about for some time and in which connection I carried out some close studies during my stay in Norway last summer."
Snoilsky – a truly "noble person" in Ibsen's opinion – was the chief model for Johannes Rosmer.
The original title of Rosmersholm was "White Horses". In a note probably made around New Year 1885/86, Ibsen writes:
«White Horses»
He, a man of fine, distinguished character, who has adopted liberal views and been deserted by all his former friends and acquaintances. A widower; has been unhappily married to a melancholy, mentally disturbed wife who finally drowned herself.
She, responsible for bringing up his two daughters, liberal, warm-blooded, somewhat inconsiderate but not unpleasantly so. Is regarded by her surroundings as the evil spirit of the house and is the object of misinterpretation and backbiting.
Ibsen wrote three drafts of the play before being satisfied. The first draft – undated – only covers part of the first act. A second draft was started on May 25th 1886 but laid aside in the middle of June. He had drafted part of the third act by then.
The third draft – the title had now been changed to "Rosmersholm" – is dated as follows:
|
Starting date |
Finishing date |
| Act 1 |
June 15th |
June 28th |
| Act 2 |
July 1st |
July 12th |
| Act 3 |
July 15th |
July 24th |
| Act 4 |
July 26th |
August 4th |
On August 6th Ibsen began to write the fair copy, but some changes were made, and it was not until September 27th 1886 that the manuscript was completed.
First edition
Rosmersholm came out on November 23rd 1886 at Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Søn) in Copenhagen and Christiania. The first edition was composed of 8 000 copies.
The reviewers were even more confused by Rosmersholm than they had been by The Wild Duck two years previously. In Norway the reviews were almost exclusively poor, while in Sweden and Denmark they were slightly better.
The lukewarm reviews affected sales, which were poor, and the play was not reprinted until Ibsen's collected works were published (1898-1900).
First performance
Rosmersholm had its very first performance on January 17th 1887 at Den nationale Scene in Bergen. Gunnar Heiberg directed. it, while Didi Heiberg and Nicolai Halvorsen played the parts of Rebekka West and Johannes Rosmer. The audience received the production rather coolly.
The play was then staged in Gothenburg on March 18th, at Christiania Theater on April 12th and in Stockholm on April 15th. The first performance in Germany was in Augsburg on April 6th. Det Kongelige (Royal) Teater in Copenhagen turned the play down, much to Ibsen's annoyance.
Most of these productions were total failures.
By Jens-Morten Hanssen / ibsen.net